Q & A With Jerry Meyers About This Summer With Team USA

How was the experience with USA Baseball this summer?
" Being on the coaching staff with the U.S. National team was a tremendous honor and an invaluable experience. It was really humbling to represent our country in international competition and at the World Championships. To win a Gold Medal and make history by being the first team to ever go undefeated was amazing."

Team USA beat the Cubans twice, and that was their Olympic team. What kind of talent
Did they have?
" Cuba has a very deep and proud tradition in baseball. They are a very talented and physical team. They had several players that could play in the Major Leagues here in the states. We had to play two great games to beat them, and we did."

Do you still see baseball growing around the world?
" It really is. In places like Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic, they are developing and becoming more competitive."

What other countries besides, South America, Japan, Cuba, Canada, Korea and Australia might we see
some outstanding players in the future?
" The Chinese Taipei team was very strong. They were athletic and had some legitimate pitchers on their staff. Some of them could also play pro ball here as well."

Obviously, Team USA had some outstanding talent and tough minded young men who
had to deal with being out of the country for so long as well as the travel. It must have
been extremely tough to pick the squad?
" It was tough to pick the right guys. Some very deserving and talented players didn't make it. In the end, we had just the right make-up on our roster to get it done."

What was it like to coach with/against the best players in the world on a daily basis?
" It was interesting to watch how the players approached the game day in and day out.

Was it tough getting scouting reports on some of these teams?
" We didn't have much information on teams ahead of time. We had to make in-game adjustments to what we observed. We were able to scout a few opponents before we had to play them."

How were the tournaments/ games received at the various venues ?
" There was great fan support everywhere we went. The tournament in Holland was sold out for the week. We played in front of about 6,000 every game."

What is the most important thing from this summer that you'll be able to take with you
back here at ODU?
" The experience helped reinforce some of the things we are already doing in our program that are necessary to be successful. I constantly look for ways to improve a player's/team's development, and there were many things from this experience that I will share with our program here at ODU."